Why You Don’t Have To Sell “The Dream” To Rapidly Grow Your Business
(E𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 selling 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗮𝘆)...
The other night at a BBQ with some friends, Lydia was talking about how one of our mutual friends Sara was “sold the dream” at her job. How she was promised so much, and how the reality proved to be NOTHING like that promise.
And I think it’s something we can all relate to. We’ve all been sold the dream at one point in time. And I think we can all agree that it’s not nice to be told one thing only for the reality to turn out very differently.
And it’s funny because that conversation reminded me of how false expectations leave your customers with a bitter taste in their mouths. And that’s NOT good for business because when you promise the world and deliver an underwheliming results, you can bet those customers won’t come back.
“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘦.” - Right?
Egging up the dream is a poor salesman’s strategy.
So what if I told you that there’s a way to “sell the dream” without selling your soul (or your customers down the river)?
… Well, when you use language like Ogilvie… that can happen.
I’ve attached an ad by David Ogilvy for Roles Royce below. And I just want to point out how matter of fact, confident and unshakable the belief is in the product. He makes it abundantly clear that this car is awesome. There's nothing remotely like it. He knows it. And he makes sure we knows it.
And I’m not saying just “be confident” - No the product / service must have substance. You can’t fake that.
And the best thing about the ad?
He sells the car WITHOUT hyperbole. It’s like a masterclass in Zen marketing. He describes things matter-of-factly yet makes it an interesting read… You can dream about it yourself. I noticed it created imagery in MY head. Yet he treads a fine balance by describing things in detail without overtly telling you how amazing, wonderful, magical and mysterious it is.
Take how he describes a “picnic table veneered in French Walnut”.
First of all… you have to respect the audacity to use this beautiful language!
Secondly, It paints a dream state WITHOUT overdoing it.
You can imagine the light bulb going off as a man reads this and pictures taking his family on a picnic. You can see him bringing it up with his wife...
“𝘈 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴.”
That’s the beauty of vivid imagery. You can paint what’s there and let the reader do the rest. You don’t have to hit them over the head with it.
So what you end up with in this approach is a list of benefits described in beautiful language… and then he adds a strikingly effective selling technique…
Closing The Sale With The Two Way Close
He wraps up the ad with a two-way close. In a nutshell, the two-way close is a comparison. In this case it goes something like this:
You could always buy a Bentley if you want… but that would be a silver medal.
If you really want to have a good thing, you buy the Rolls.
If you're okay with it NOT being so awesome, but still pretty decent you buy a Bentley.
How A Beauty Salon Can Use The Two Way Close
That's an excellent selling technique that works in a lot of situations. Here’s an example of how a nail salon could use this technique to affirm their higher value in a competitive marketplace:
I mean you could go to Sally’s Beauty Salon down the road… they do a pretty good job. You can expect your nails to last about a week with the methods they use.
Or you could invest a little more and your nails will last at least 3 weeks guaranteed because we use X Y Z…
When you describe your product or service in matter of fact yet beautiful language and then break out a little two way close hear and there… you’ll be surprised how much satisfaction and repeat custom increases.
David Ogilvie’s Copywriting on The Rolls Royce
“But This All Sounds Like Too Much Work!”
Yeah I get it. And to be brutally honest: IT IS!!! It’s 00:07 at night and as I site here finishing this article off, I don’t blame you for pointing out that this sounds a lot of work. It really is…
So you could try and do this all on your own.
But it’ll take a lot of time. You might never pull it off because marketing is a difficult skill to learn… and you probably need more sales sooner rather than later.
So if you don’t have the time, and need more sales yesterday… Get someone that spends 7-days a week writing ads, website, sales pages, emails, articles and blog posts… all for the purpose of packing out our clients salons, acupuncture clinics or wedding photography diaries, just to name a few.
